From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov
Transcript for: Information Resellers and Consumer Privacy Concerns
Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Alicia Puente Cackley,
Director, Financial Markets and Community Investment
Related GAO Work: GAO-13-663: Information Resellers: Consumer Privacy
Framework Needs to Reflect Changes in Technology and the Marketplace
Released: November 2013
[ Background Music ]
[ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and
information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's
November 2013. Social media sites, mobile applications, and other
technologies often gather personal information from their users. That
information can be collected or bought and then resold for marketing
purposes, which raises privacy concerns. A team led by Alicia Puente
Cackley, a director in GAO's Financial Markets and Community Investment
team, recently examined privacy issues and information resellers. GAO's
Sarah Kaczmarek sat down with Alicia to talk about what they found.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Consumers share a lot of personal data with social
media sites, mobile apps, and companies online. How is this information
being used?
[ Alicia Puente Cackley: ] Well information resellers collect,
aggregate, and sell consumers' personal information for a variety of
purposes. The one main purpose is marketing. So resellers maintain large
sophisticated databases with information from a variety of sources about
individuals and families. They get the information from public records,
such as property tax or court records, from publicly available
information, their telephone directories, classified ads, and from
non-public information, through loyalty card programs, warranty
registrations, or through online activities. And then resellers use the
aggregated information to offer products that allow clients to target
their online advertisements. Or they may offer retailers the ability to
add purchase and lifestyle information to their existing customer
databases.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And what laws are in place to protect consumer
privacy, and how well are they working?
[ Alicia Puente Cackley: ] Well currently there's no comprehensive
federal privacy law governing the collection, use, and sale of personal
information by private sector companies. There are also no federal laws
designed specifically to address all the products sold and information
maintained by information resellers. Rather, there are a set of more
narrowly tailored laws that govern the use and protection of personal
information. So the laws apply for specific purposes and certain
situations to certain sectors or to certain types of entities.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Should consumers be able to expect more privacy and
control over their data or is that just too difficult or expensive with
today's technologies?
[ Alicia Puente Cackley: ] Well that is currently a matter of some
debate. There are differing views on whether there is a need for more
legal privacy protections or whether better enforcement of current laws
and self regulation of the industry can suffice. There are also
differing views as to appropriate approach in designing additional
legislation related to privacy protections. And at the same time,
there's a debate about how to address consumers' interests in the use
and control of their data. So many believe consumers have a right to
expect the companies will collect, use, and disclose their information
in ways that are consistent with the context in which the information
was provided. Industry representatives have argued that repurposing of
consumer information generally is not inappropriate or harmful.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Given these differing views, what's GAO recommend?
[ Alicia Puente Cackley: ] GAO is recommending that Congress consider
strengthening the current consumer privacy framework to reflect the
effects of changes in technology in the marketplace, particularly in
relation to consumer data used for marketing purposes--while also
ensuring that any limitations on data collection and sharing don't
overly limit economic and other benefits to industry and consumers.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Finally, for consumers concerned about their data
privacy, what's the bottom line here?
[ Alicia Puente Cackley: ] The bottom line is that consumers should be
aware that information that they voluntarily provide is often shared
with others for marketing purposes, including info they provide through
store loyalty programs, warranty registrations, questionnaires as well
as information publicly posted on social media sites like Twitter and
Facebook. In addition, there are various actions consumers can take to
reduce the collection of such information, such as various opt outs and
do not track options, but all these actions have limitations. The main
way consumers can learn about how their information is collected and
used, as well as how to opt out, is by being aware of and reading the
privacy policies of the companies they do business with.
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